Buick Avista To Likely Face Uphill Battle For Production
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Like it or not, we live in a global, interconnected world these days. What happens in Asia can have repercussions in North America. Slowly, but surely, products are being adapted to suit a range of consumer tastes, and automobiles aren’t excluded.
But, for as much as the western world loves and adores coupes, the east isn’t as much of a fan. Unfortunately, China resides on the eastern side of things, and its citizens don’t hold the admiration for coupes like we do. Much of that stems from being chauffeured around in the back seats. Coupes aren’t very good for that.
That’s why the Buick Avista concept likely faces a few hurdles to make it to production. It’s 2+2 configuration doesn’t lend itself in the slightest for the Chinese market, which is also Buick’s largest market.
Though, there is hope. Us Yanks would be delighted to see the Avista reach production as a halo performance model for the brand. Europeans would likely feel the same over an Opel sports coupe. And, most of all, our Aussie friends yearn for rear-wheel drive after Zeta and the Holden Commodore dies (maybe).
That volume could be enough to justify production of the Alpha based, 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 coupe for Buick. Hell, it’s design already looks ready to transcend badges. This could be GM badge engineering in the greatest way possible.
Sadly, it may not be enough to sway the GM bean counters. We can only hope to see something like this grace Buick’s portfolio.
Because what better way to shed its frumpy image than with a youthful, elegant sport coupe?
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How hip is China? ofcourse they don’t like Coupes.
C’mon the best selling brand in the country is Buick, that speaks loudly.
That is the country that is home of the nerds. And not the cool type of nerds or geeks. The nerds there are the type that can’t even think for themselves.
If the car is going to be built on the Alpha platform at the Lansing, MI assembly plant then the car cannot even be sold in China without the tariffs and everything else that goes along with it.
So it does not matter if China mainly buys sedans.
If the car is built at the Lansing, MI plant then just sell it in North America, Oceania and rebadge it as an Opel for Europe. Wouldn’t the costs of the Alpha platform in Lansing already be spread across the 6th Gen Camaro, ATS and CTS.
It would be foolish not to build this beautiful coupe. If I hadn’t just got a new Caddy lease I would hold off to get one of these.
If it does get built, we know it’s probably not going to be a big seller. But Buick has to make some moves.
I can’t wait til Tuesday….
No question, this should see production. Like previous comments mentioned, this would not be a vehicle to go to China. It would do well as a North American and European entry into the segment. To differentiate it from the Camaro, and even ATS-V, I think AWD should be offered. It would be great for the Northeast and parts of Europe. This is the halo Buick needs.
Problem is Alpha can’t do RHD, as I’ve said, that nixes Holden demand. Only path to production is D2XX and torque-vectoring AWD.
That’s not too bad. As I’ve said before, it would allow Buick to add technology and interior materials that rival Cadillac’s. A production version could go for 40k fully spec’d-out.
The only problem is it wouldn’t be built at the Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing . They just added a third shift to keep up with the demand for the Camaro . It’s the first time in the new plants history that the facility is actually running at full capacity . So GM would have to find another plant for the Avista to be built .
I agree that Buick should still built it even if the Chinese doesn’t like coupes . Build it for the home boys .
Put a Cadillac engine in it and RWD , it would be a sure way to attract that younger buyer Buick wants in their showrooms . But in the real world maybe some of the design elements will show up in a Regal or Verano soon .
Well Buick has been destroying their own image for years in North America, they are going to have to do something besides acting as if the Encore CUV is the car that is making them more appealing to the younger consumer.
They are really going to have to take some risky and aggressive moves. I don’t have the answer to what that is; but Buick needs to improve it’s image by taking some type of chances.
What better way to bring back the Riviera name. Loved that car.
I would love to see this, even if it was RWD only. The Camaro and Mustang sell well enough as RWD.
Just like the Avenir begat the 2017 Lacrosse, my feeling is that we will see most of these styling elements (similar themed front end, fast back roofline, and curved rear) later in the year on the 2017 Regal. There were some photos I saw somewhere of the 2017 Insignia, and if you squint, you can see the Avista.
The fumbest ducking thing for GM would be to not release this in America. Everyone has shipped their flip over this thing.
Well first don’t blame China if this one is not built. While China could help the fact is Coupe sales globally are struggling.
Just look around our country now as out side the Camaro and Mustang few MFG can even come close to selling 100,000 units of a coupe anymore.
Subaru and Toyota tried and are failing. Hyundai is failing and even Chryslers coupe is not in numbers that are great.
Enthusiast want them but we are a dying breed.
Buick and Opel could pull this off if they passed much of it on the Camaro. The key then would be exporting and how much.
It would really help to get the next gen Alpha here with RHD and leverage this out more.
The problem is you need to make a business case that fits and this one is a tight fit. If they can not make enough cars there is no money in this unless they charge more. Then if they charge more it makes it harder to sell.
Most cars today are wanted to push at least 100,000 or more units unless they are in the high price range like a Corvette and higher.
Cadillac can get away with the ATS because it sells another car and several models on this chassis and they leveraged the Alpha out over a wider range just in their division alone. Chevy will sell more than 100,000 Camaro for the next how many years.
There are a lot of people inside GM that want to so this but there is a lot more to this than just build it.
Car companies unfortunaly have to build cars to show a profit and not lose or break even. This really hurts some really cool cars from ever being built.
There is even more to this than what I laid out here. When we consider these cars there is so much more to this than just lets build it.
I really hope they can find a way. If not leverage this car out in some other way to get it built even if it is smaller.
But just take a look at the number of coupe sales here and even in Europe and it is sad as they have declined like crazy in the mid price and lower range. The coupe has really become a rich mans car anymore.
GM is building some really nice concepts today and they need to use care. In the long past most people accepted that they would never get built. Today with so many show cars in the last 10 years being built they need to realize people are now expecting them. What they show needs to have a chance at being real.
If you want a car with these specs and looks this year, you could just get the new Q60.
If GM wants to sell more Buicks in the US, it has to design and produce cars like the Avista to satisfy the American market. One size doesn’t fit all and what appeals to the Chinese market doesn’t necessarily appeal to the US and European market. If GM truly wants to change the Buick brand in the US into “that’s not a Buick,” then it has to shatter the perception that it produces and sells very conservative and uninspired designs because it wants to play it safe. It seems that every manufacturer sells cars like these. GM badly needs to differentiate Buick from other cars and the Avista prove it can do that–create breathtaking beautiful cars with leading edge telematics and upscale interiors. It needs to make this Buick’s brand image in a bolder way. Creating Avista concepts, but either shelving them or producing water-down versions of them just makes you think GM has no confidence in its people except bean counters.
The fact gets lost that these are SHOW CARS!
The fact is show cars are fantasy cars of designers and generally have to be watered down as if not you end up with a car with some major quirks.
The SSR was a ergonomic nightmare as they keep much of the show appearance. The Camaro ended up with the odd steering wheel and big shift knob and other odd features on the dash because they were instructed to keep the show appearance. Even all the blind spots could have been cleaned up a bit with out hurting the car much if they had just let them tweak it.
The Alvist is not producible as it is. the car sits too low for the real world, The b pillar would have to be put in place for roll over and roof crush test. Odds are the wheels would not be this large as they are a lot of un-sprung weight and mess with ride and handling.
Much of this is not because of bean counters it is reality vs. show car. Back in the 50’s no one ever expected Motorama cars to make it to the street. The Vette did but with no roll up windows etc.
In the last decade or so some cars did make it from show to production pretty much in tact. That was because they were production cars that were modified not show cars.
The simple fact is there are a lot of other things GM has to consider to meet volume built and sold many of you on the web never consider.
Add to this the slow sale of coupes other than the Camaro and Mustang. If GM did sell this how would it effect Camaro sales? It would steal my sale.
How many do they have to make and how much would they have to charge? These are important questions. Where would the sales come from. How long could the sales be sustained. How much money would be made with this car or some other project that would prove more profitable.
Building autos is not just about building cool cars. It is about business. In this day and age profits are important as development cost have never been higher. Now you have large companies like Ford and GM or GM and Honda working together to save cost. You have FCA looking for a dance partner as they are in need of tech help and cash. Even companies like BMW are now working with Toyota and others to remain independent. Then look at all the companies VW bought up to raise their volume. Many of these companies may not have still been alive today with out selling out.
It has never been easy to build and sell cars and today it is more difficult than ever. GM and most of the people in GM want to build cars like this or they would not make them show cars. But that is the difficult part.
Also you must remember too we no longer know much about product more than 18 months out. Today things are going on that will effect future products and often they have to wait till it is here to move on these projects. That is one of the big problems for the Avenir. The Omega has yet to hit the market yet as a Cadillac let alone even consider announcing the Buick yet. We at this point do not know all that is going on at Buick and will have to wait and see what happens.
We will get some Buicks here that are not sold in China as we will also share with Opel. While many keep looking to the far East we should also keep an eye on Europe.
The coming Opel GT may fit the future of Buick better. It is based on the Opel Monza styling that also shared in part with the Alvista. It could be a smaller AWD version of the Alvista who knows?
It used to be that you could read the last page of the book at GM and know what was going to happen. Anymore you really can’t. How many saw the Alvista coming to Detroit?
GM has the world class platform to build it on. They have world class engines to please American buyers from tree huggers to mouth breathers like me. Making it “production ready” can be done while preserving the overall character of the show car. Lincoln did a decent if not smashing job with the new Continental – and brought it to market before the design became irrelevant. To continue to tease with dream cars, then only deliver conservative incremental steps and CUVs to satisfy foreign markets is far from the renaissance embodied in the concepts; it’s almost contemtuous to flaunt show cars like Avista and Avenir only to continue honing production designs to suit conservative Chinese tastes.
Buick is an American car company and we’re at the very sad point in US history when the American people are willing to accept that essentially everything we can expect to have or not have is now predicated upon China’s wants and needs. As the deck is presently stacked, the utopian “global, interconnected world” you’ve so humbly resigned yourself to accepting, even promoting, is nothing short of an absolute travesty for most Americans. Build the damned car already and build it here in the US for Americans.
Generally agree with you.
Yes GM has the ability to build the Avista but should they?
I do not think it will sell as well as people are suggesting. Coupe sales are declining at an alarming rate. Only models that sell in less volumes are manuals.
Like it or not China is by far Buicks biggest market selling about 1 million units annually.
The Chinese clients have to be taken into consideration.
We’ll gladly export a few Avista’s to China if they want something cool to sell alongside their mundane Chinese Buicks made in factories 51% owned by Chinese companies. They can pay the hefty government imposed import tariff and set themselves apart from their proletariat neighbors and be the only one on their block or high density housing unit or whatever with the best that Buick has to offer.
Buick has consistently done a great job taking their Chinese clients into consideration. Perhaps it’s time they concentrate a bit more on rebuilding the brand at home and a stunning Alpha based, domestically produced halo coupe isn’t a bad place to start. Or like Megatron suggested, the checks can be written to Infiniti.
You’ve got to wonder why General Motors wouldn’t want to bring Buick’s Avista to production especially given that it shares a platform used by existing cars; further, it’s clear that the Avista is different enough to no cannibalize sales from either Chevrolet’s Camaro or Cadillac’s ATS as well as the fact that the Avista may fit better in European countries where the Avista might fit better than Chevrolet’s Camaro or Cadillac’s ATS.
What a definitive sign of our second-class status that China and its consumers now dictate what cars we build.
By the way, that rationale doesn’t seem to stop BMW, Mercedes or Audi from building and selling gorgeous coupes.